Bird ice 55

[Wolffy]

I bought myself a humminbird ice 55 for Xmas and I'm wondering if its working correctly. This is the first time I've actually used a flasher let alone seen one in action. So my question is on the screen at the top I have alot of color for the first 2 ft. Then its clear till my jig and the bottom. Then at the bottom, about 6.5 ft. Its lit up all the way around back to the top again. If I adjust the gain I can get the color to dissapear but then I can't see my jig. I also tried the noise but that doesn't change a thing. Right now I'm in 6.5 ft. Of water the other day it was 12. Both times the same thing happened.

[MN BassFisher]

I have an ICE 45 and it appears to be working correctly. The rule of thumb I try to use is play with the gain til your jig is a faint line, but make sure it is solid. That cuts down on some of the clutter and weeds and gives you more visibility on your unit. The top foot or two always shows up as a color for me as well, I think that's pretty common. And the bottom and everything below it (from a flasher standpoint) will be a mix of colors. Flashers are a little easier to read in deeper water because they are less cluttered and easier to understand. You ICE 55 will have two beams, I use the shallow beam most of the time but if I need to cut through the weeds or if I'm in deep water and am not getting a good read I go with the narrow beam. Play around with it and get comfortable, you'll learn to love that thing! Tight lines!

[Crappyfisherman]

Looks to me like your gain might be to high.Check to make sure your transducer is plugged in all the way.Take the extra cable off the transducer if you havent already. You dont need that it is only on there because of the patent by Vexilar.Make sure you ice ducer is just below the bottom of the ice so it hangs straight.I start with auto and once Iknow for sure what the depth is Switch to manual.Sometimes the auto depth goes wacko in shallow water.

[fisherman-andy]

When fishing 6ft or shallower and the gain settings have been set optimally at minimal gains for the Ice45/55 and if still seeing this issue then its because the wide cone transducer is unable to properly function being in too shallow. I have this exact issue with my Ice55. Swap over to the narrow cone, adjusting your gain again should solve your problem. Evidently no flasher is going to work if your in way too shallow conditions like 3fow.

[leech~~]

Lots of helpful ideas so far. One thing I would try is run it out to a deeper hole like 20'-30' feet and see if you are still having an issue. My son-in-law had a issue like this with his new 55 unit last year and had to send it in to get fixed. Some of these high watt units have a hard time trying to reduce the gain on them down enough to read in very shallow water. The Vex does sell a low power cord for their units to help in this area if people fish in shallow water most of the time, but that doesn't help you with the 55.

[Borch]

I bought myself a humminbird ice 55 for Xmas and I'm wondering if its working correctly. This is the first time I've actually used a flasher let alone seen one in action. So my question is on the screen at the top I have alot of color for the first 2 ft. Then its clear till my jig and the bottom. Then at the bottom, about 6.5 ft. Its lit up all the way around back to the top again. If I adjust the gain I can get the color to dissapear but then I can't see my jig. I also tried the noise but that doesn't change a thing. Right now I'm in 6.5 ft. Of water the other day it was 12. Both times the same thing happened.

When in shallow water it's imperitive that the transducer is hanging correctly in order to see you jig. Ran my Ice 55 in 7-5 fow last week and if I didn't see my jig a quick reposition of the transducer took care of the issue. The cone is pretty small in that depth of water.

If you're still using the transducer cords with the clip get rid of them and run the cord through the float and use a clip as a stop on the cord. The transducer will hnag straighter this way. It's a good flasher and I'm sure you'll get it all figured out.

[silverbulletguy]

+1 on what Borch said. Also make sure you ducer is below the ice. I noticed one time mine wasn't below the ice because I hadn't adjusted the length of cord below the float and it looked just like your pic. Good luck and congrats on your new addition to help catch more fish!!!!

[Wolffy]

well thanks everyone. i did remove the support cable and i have the gain set low enough so i can see my jig, any lower and it'll disappear. I would try deeper water but the lakes close to are not very deep. i have been fishing on the deepest one in the county and its only about 16 ft. there is another one about 30 miles away thats supposed to be 30+ but all thats in there is little pan fish. i Did move to about 13.5 ft. and the color on the high side disappeared and the bottom cleaned up a little but it was still a little bit messy. also i have not been in any weeds so i know thats not the problem.